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SEVENTY-THIRD SEASON i953" I 954 Sanders Theatre, Cambridge [3/arvard University] Boston Symphony Orchestra

(Seventy-third Season, 1953-1954) CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL VIOLINS Violas Bassoons Richard Burgin, Joseph de Pasquale Sherman Walt Concert-master Jean Cauhape Ernst Panenka Alfred Rrips Eugen Lehner Theodore Brewster George Zazofsky Albert Bernard Rolland Tapley Georges Fourel Contra-Bassoon Norbert Lauga George Humphrey Richard Plaster Vladimir Resnikofl Jerome Lipson Harry Dickson Louis Artieres Horns Gottfried Wilfinger Robert Rarol James Stagliano Einar Hansen Reuben Green Harry Shapiro Joseph Leibovici Bernard Radinofl Harold Meek Emil Kornsand Vincent Mauricd Paul Keaney Roger Shermont Walter Macdonald Carlos Pinfield Violoncellos Osbourne McCenathy Paul Fedorovsky Samuel Mayes Minot Beale Alfred Zighera Trumpets Herman Silberman Jacobus Langendoea Roger Voisin Stanley Benson Mischa Nieland Marcel Lafosse Leo Panasevich Karl Zeise Armando Ghitalia Goguen Sheldon Rotenberg Josef Zimbler Gerard Fredy Ostrovsky Bernard Parronchi Leon Marjollet Trombones Clarence Rnudson Jacob Raichman Pierre Mayer Martin Hoherman Louis Berger William Mover Manuel Zung Rauko Kabila Samuel Diamond Flutes Josef Orosz Victor Manusevitch Doriot Anthony James Nagy James Pappoutsakil Tuba Leon Gorodetzky Phillip Kaplan K. Vinal Smith Raphael Del Sordo Melvin Bryant Piccolo Harps George Madsen Lloyd Stonestreet Bernard Zighen Saverio Messina Oboes Olivia Luetcke William Waterhouie Ralph Gomberg William Marshall Jean Devergie Timpani Leonard Moss John Holmes Roman Szulc Charles Smith Basses English Horn Georges Moleux Louis Speyer Willis Page Percussion Ludwig Juht Clarinets Harold Farberman Irving Frankel Gino Cioffi Everett Firth Henry Freeman Manuel Valerio Harold Thompson Henry Portnoi Pasquale Cardillo Eb Clarinet Gaston Dufresne Librarians Henri Girard Bass Clarinet Leslie Rogers John Barwicki Rosario Mazzeo Victor Alpert, Ass't SandersTheatre, Cambridge [harvard University]

SEVENTY-THIRD SEASON, 1953-1954

Boston Symphony Orchestra

CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director

Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor

Concert Bulletin of the

Sixth Concert

TUESDAY EVENING, April 20

with historical and descriptive notes by

John N. Burk

The TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc.

Henry B. Cabot '. President

Jacob J. Kaplan . Vice-President

Richard C. Paine . Treasurer

Philip R. Allen M. A. De Wolfe Howe John Nicholas Brown Michael T. Kelleher Theodore P. Ferris Palfrey Perkins Alvan T. Fuller Lewis Perry N. Penrose Hallowell Edward A. Taft Francis W. Hatch Raymond S. Wilkins Oliver Wolcott

George E. Judd, Manager

T. D. Perry, Jr. N. S. Shirk, Assistant Managers

[i] SEVENTY-FOURTH SEASON 1 9 J 4 — 19 5 5

Boston Symphony Orchestra

CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director

A Series of Six TUESDAY EVENING CONCERTS

at 8:30

November 30 January 18 March 22

December 28 February 22 April 19 \S

G. E. JUDD, Manager

SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON, MASS.

Cambridge subscribers who may be interested in the Friday Afternoon, Saturday Evening, Sunday Afternoon, Tuesday Evening Series, or the Open Rehearsals in Boston are invited to inquire for particulars at the sub-

scription office, Symphony Hall.

[»i Sanders Theatre, Cambridge {^Harvard University^

Boston Symphony Orchestra

SEVENTY-THIRD SEASON, 1953-1954 CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director

SIXTH CONCERT

TUESDAY EVENING, April 20

Program

Mozart Symphony in D major, "Paris" K. 297

I. Allegro assai

II. Andantino

III. Allegro

Piston Fantasy for Solo English Horn and Harp, with Strings English Horn: Louis Speyer Harp: Bernard Zighera

Berlioz Excerpts from "The Damnation of Faust," Op. 24

I. Minuet of the Will-o'-the-Wisps

II. Ballet of the Sylphs III. Hungarian March (Rakoczy) INTERMISSION

Schubert Symphony in C major, No. 7

I. Andante; Allegro ma non troppo

II. Andante con moto III. Scherzo IV. Finale

The Friday and Saturday concerts are broadcast each week from Station WGBH (FM). BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS

[3] . ;:

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The programs for the enlarged Berk- pleasure. . shire Festival of July and August, 1954, have been announced. In the course of the Shed concerts, Charles Munch will honor the 150th anniversary season of the birth of Berlioz by conducting this composer's principal works in their com- plete form. Guest conductors in the Shed concerts will be , conducting two concerts; Jean Morel, and Richard Burgin, each conducting one. Mr. Munch will open the Shed series on Saturday, July 10, with Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, with the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society. On Sunday afternoon, July 11, Pierre Monteux will present a Beethoven pro- gram including the Overture to Leonore Model 3HES5 No. 3, the Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Em- $139.95 with the new peror") with Claudio Arrau as soloist, and the Fifth Symphony. RCAVICTOR 2nd week (Shed, July 17, 18) : Satur- day eve. (Pierre Monteux) — Franck HIGH FIDELITY program: Le Chasseur Maudit, Les Eolides, Les Djinns (piano soloist, Vera "Victrola"Phonograph Franceschi), Symphony in D minor; Sunday aft. (Charles Munch) — De- and RCA Victor bussy, Iberia; Copland, Piano Concerto

High Fidelity Records (soloist, Leo Smit) ; Berlioz, Fantastic Symphony. New High Fidelity "Victrola" phono- 3rd week (Shed, July 24, 25) : Satur- graphs bring out the hidden "highs" day eve. (Jean Morel) Weber, Over- and "lows" not reproduced by con- — ture, Der Freischiitz ; Prokofieff, Sixth ventional phonographs. Recorded mu- Symphony; Strauss, Don Juan; Elgar, sic comes alive with the realism, the "Enigma" Variations. Sunday afternoon "presence" of an actual performance. (Charles Munch) — Berlioz, Beatrice In addition, RCA Victor brings you and Benedict Overture and Harold in the world's largest and finest selection Italy (viola soloist, William Primrose) of High Fidelity records. Be sure to ask Ernst Toch, Symphony No. 2. your dealer for the latest RCA Victor 4th week (Shed, July 31, Aug. 1) High Fidelity Record Catalog. Saturday eve. (Charles Munch) — Ber- Suggested Eastern list price, subject to change lioz, Romeo and Juliet with Festival Chorus and soloists; Sunday aft. (Rich- rci\\ictor ard Burgin) — Prokofieff, Chout, Dvorak, mks.® RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA (Continued on page 9)

[-4] SYMPHONY IN D MAJOR ("PARIS"), NO. 31 (K. 297) By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born at Salzburg, January 27, 1756; died at Vienna, December 5, 1791

Composed in Paris in 1778, this symphony had its first performance at a Concert Spirituel under the direction of Jean Le Gros on June 18 of that year. The first performance of the symphony at the concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was October 28, 1887, under the direction of Wilhelm Gericke. Arthur

Nikisch performed it April 28, 1893; Emil Paur, November 8, 1895; Wilhelm Gericke, January 13, 1898, and , October 26, 1945. The score calls for the following instruments in pairs: flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, together with timpani and strings.

Mozart, aged twenty-two, arrived with his mother in Paris on March 23, 1778, and stayed there until September 26. The Mozart family had built great hopes on the success of Wolfgang in the French capital. What he wanted (and was never to succeed in hav- ing) was a permanent remunerative post, preferably that of Kapell- meister, which provincial Salzburg had not offered him. Nor were the available musicians at Salzburg inspiring to compose for. "For the last five or six years," wrote Mozart to a Salzburg friend, with a Parisian performance perhaps ringing in his memory, "the Salzburg orchestra has always been rich in what is useless and superfluous, but very poor in what is necessary, and absolutely destitute of what is indispensable." At Mannheim, whence he had just come and which possessed the finest orchestra in Europe, Mozart had probably first awakened to the full possibilities of the symphonic medium. "The discipline that rules this orchestra!" he had written to his father. "They behave themselves quite differently, have good manners, are well dressed, and don't soak themselves in taverns." The young man realized clearly enough that the broad road to suc- cess in Paris was not the symphonic road but the opera. The Gluck- Piccini controversy still held everyone's attention, although Gluck had triumphed by that time. Mozart was not interested in taking sides: he was as careful to preserve beauty of melody as the dramatic verities, and instinctively he would have sacrificed neither. He was ready to adapt his style to the French language and the French taste, but he never obtained in Paris more than half a promise of a French libretto, nor any definite prospect of a performance.

Mozart arrived in Paris with very little money, after nine and a half days of tedious travelling from Mannheim. His mother, who was with him, wrote home: "During the last two days we were choked by the wind and drowned by the rain, so that we both got soaking wet in the carriage and could scarcely breathe." And so they arrived in a strange city, where Mozart, making calls and lacking cab fare, picked

[5] his way over paving stones slippery with early spring mud. Mozart's mother was a care and a burden, for she merely sat alone in their dark lodgings day after day and complained of increasing ailments.

On July 3 she succumbed to a disease as unidentifiable as many were in those days, and Mozart for the first time directly witnessed the spectre of death. His father, unable to leave Salzburg, had realized that the boy, too sensitive, too impulsive, too trusting, had none of the qualities needed to back up his talents, push his advantage, and make himself known or even noticed in a foreign land. As Baron Grimm, the most helpful friend of Mozart in Paris, wrote to Leopold:

"He is too good-natured, listless, easily gullible, too little occupied with the means which can lead to fortune. One can never come through in this town without resource, enterprise and audacity." The long letters constantly exchanged between father and son (the postage eating into Mozart's diminishing savings) are full of cautions and admonitions on the one hand, expressions of filial devotion and bitter discouragement on the other. The Baron Grimm was the one person who introduced Mozart in favorable places. He took him to Noverre, Director of Ballet at the Opera, who spoke of an opera and allowed Mozart to provide numbers for a ballet ("Les Petits Riens") , the production of which gave him no credit. His one fruitful meeting was with Le Gros, the Director of the Concert Spirituel, the famous ultra-aristocratic subscription concerts, given in Lent when the theaters were closed, which were later to perform symphonies of Haydn and ultimately to vanish in the tides of revolution. But with Le Gros, as with others, French "politesse" ran ahead of honest good intention. Mozart contributed to an oratorio, which proved another case of obliging without return. He wrote a "Symphonie Concertante" with solo parts designed for the eminent virtuosos of the orchestra: Wendling (flute) and Ramm (oboe) , whom he had known at Mannheim; Punto, the hornist who, like Ramm, was later to inspire Beethoven, and Ritter (bassoon) . Le Gros left the

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[4] score lying on his desk when it should have been with the copyist, and when the time for its performance arrived it had simply disappeared.* Mozart was offended but more or less forgave Le Gros when he was asked for a symphony — which, needless to say, he promptly provided. In a letter to his father, Mozart describes an encounter with Le Gros:

"M. Le Gros came into the room and said, 'It is really quite wonderful to have the pleasure of seeing you again.' 'Yes, I have a great deal to do.'

'I hope you will stay to lunch with us today?' 'I am very sorry, but I am already engaged.' 'M. Mozart, we really must spend a day together again soon.' 'That will give me much pleasure.' A long pause; at last, 'A propos, will you not write a grand symphony for me for Corpus

Christi?' 'Why not?' 'Can I then rely on this?' 'Oh yes, if I may rely with certainty on its being performed and that it will not have the same fate as my Sinfonia Concertante.' Then the dance began. He excused himself as well as he could, but did not find much to say. In short, the symphony was highly approved of — and Le Gros was so pleased with it that he says it is his very best symphony." Mozart had not composed a symphony for four years — for the good reason that there had been no call for one. But he had listened to Cannabich's splendid orchestra at Mannheim. The orchestra of the Concert Spirituel had a reputation for great brilliance — Mozart's dis- paraging remarks to his father, presently quoted, must have been rather peevish than judicial. Mozart had been studying the taste of the Parisian audience as well as the quality of the orchestra. He com-

posed with both in mind. In every part there is a play for brilliant effect — numerous crescendos, adroit modulations, abrupt alternation

of piano and forte. The individual instruments are favored, and it is

to be noted that a clarinet is used in a symphony by Mozart for the

first time. Above all, he aimed toward the utmost conciseness. Otto Jahn, who saw the original score, remarked that "when he came to a passage which seemed to him tedious or superfluous, he struck it out and went on with the next." The result was a symphony some eighteen minutes in length and entirely without indication of repeats. Mozart was well aware that the orchestra prided itself on the ''pre- mier coup d'archet," the incisive opening stroke of the combined bows on a brilliant chord. Accordingly he opened his symphony with a unison octave flourish. He wrote, "I have been careful not to neglect

le premier coup d'archet — and that is quite sufficient. What a fuss the oxen here make of his trick! Was Teufel — I can see no differ- ence! They all begin together just as they do in other places. It is really too much of a joke!" And he goes on to repeat a story of a

The original score was lost, but another version ultimately appeared (K. Anhang 9), in which a clarinet is used instead of a flute.

[71 Frenchman who asks a German musician if he has heard the famous " coup d'archet at the Concert Spirituel. 'Yes, I have heard the first

and the last.' 'Do you mean — the last?' 'Certainly, the first and the " last — and the last gave me the more pleasure.' The following interesting remarks about the "Parisian" Symphony are taken from Einstein's book on Mozart:f

"The symphony is characteristic of the Mannheim-Paris style. In the first movement it even parodies that style to a slight degree. It begins with the fortissimo-unisono, precision in which was a great

point of pride with the Paris orchestra. . . . He continues with the pompous runs in the strings characteristic of the French overture, and does not forget to write impressive unison passages for the strings against sustained tones in the winds. But that is where the parody, or the connivance to please the French taste, ends. Mozart's ambition was far too great, and there was too much dependent on the success of the work, for him not to take it seriously. The fact that the last of the three movements was the most successful does honor to the taste of the Parisians. The second theme of this movement is a fugato, supplying the natural material for development; it does not return in the recapitulation — one of the strokes of genius in this masterful movement, which hovers continually between brilliant tumult and graceful seriousness."

[copyrighted 1

t Oxford University Press, 1945.

FANTASY FOR SOLO ENGLISH HORN AND HARP, WITH STRINGS By

Born in Rockland, Maine, January 20, 1894

This piece was composed in 1953, and is dedicated to Louis Speyer.

Walter Piston writes of his Fantasy that it "is in a simple ternary form, the entire piece developed from motives contained in the first phrase. In contrast to the quiet expressive character of the first part, the middle section is dance-like, and there is a cadenza for the solo instrument, accompanied by the harp, leading to the return of the principal mood. The work intends primarily to exhibit, and indeed may be said to have been inspired by, the poetic beauty of the English horn as played by Louis Speyer." [COPYRIGHTED]

[8] ;

{Continued from page 4)

Violin Concerto (soloist, Ruth Posselt) ; second, the Cantata No. 93 and Suites Sibelius, Symphony No. 2. Nos. 1 and 4. On July 23, he will con-

5 th week (Shed, Aug. 7, 8) : Saturday duct a Handel-Haydn program. On July eve. (Charles Munch) — Berlioz pro- 30 Mr. Munch will conduct Roussel's gram : Benvenuto Cellini Overture, The Spider's Feast, the Ibert Flute Con- The Royal Hunt and Storm from The certo with Doriot Anthony as soloist, Trojans, Summer Nights for soprano and Mozart's Serenade for 8 Winds in C orchestra with Eleanor Steber as soloist, minor, K. 388, and the same composer's and the Te Deum. Sunday aft. (Charles Paris Symphony, K. 297. On August 6 Munch) — Gluck, Alceste Overture Lukas Foss will conduct the complete Beethoven, Violin Concerto (soloist, Stravinsky ballet Pulcinella, a Piano

Zino Francescatti) ; Brahms, Symphony Concerto by Mozart with Seymour Lip- No. 2. kin as soloist, and excerpts from Mo-

6th week (Shed, Aug. 14, 15) : Satur- zart's Idomeneo with chorus and soloists. day eve. (Charles Munch) — Wagner, At the final concert on Thursday, Au- A Faust Overture; Piston Fourth Sym- gust 12, Jean Morel as guest will phony; Ravel, Piano Concerto (solo- conduct Rossini's Overture to The Silk ist, Nicole Henriot) ; Saint-Saens, Or- Ladder, Mozart's Symphony in B flat, gan Symphony; Sunday aft. (Charles K. 319, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Munch) — Berlioz, Requiem with Fes- Strauss' Der Burger als Edelmann. tival Chorus and four auxiliary orches- tras. The series of concerts in The Theatre- Bach -Mozart Series Concert Hall on the six Wednesday On the six Friday evenings preceding evenings will be devoted to music of each Shed concert, except in the final chamber proportions. week when it will be given on Thursday, • • the concerts will be given in the inti- mate Theatre-Concert Hall by an or- OPEN REHEARSAL chestra of chamber proportions. The first There will be an extra Open Re- two weeks (July 9 and 16) Charles hearsal on Thursday Evening, April 29, Munch will conduct music of Bach, in- at 7:30, in preparation of Beethoven's cluding in the first the Brandenburg Ninth Symphony for the final concert Concertos Nos. 1, 3, 2, 6, 5, and in the of the season.

THREE EXCERPTS from the "DAMNATION OF FAUST," Dramatic Legend, Op. 24

("Minuet of the Will-o'-the-Wisps," "Ballet of the Sylphs," and "Rakoczy March")

By Hector Berlioz

Born at La Cote Saint- Andre, December n, 1803; died at Paris, March 9, 1869

Berlioz composed his Dramatic Legend in 1845 and 1846. The first performance was at the Opera-Comique in Paris, December 6, 1846.

Berlioz based his text upon Gerard de Nerval's translation of Goethe's "Faust."

The "Minuet des Follets" and the "Ballet des Sylphes," instrumental interludes in Berlioz's cantata, "La Damnation de Faust," were both concerned with the conjurations of Mephistopheles. The minuet oc- curs in the score as the Evil One calls up the will-o'-the-wisps, "spirits of flickering flame," to bewilder Marguerite ^nd beguile her heart, that she may succumb to Faust, whom she is to see for the first time. The fragile dance measures of the sylphs are used by Mephistopheles to fill the brain of the sleeping Faust with fair dreams of Marguerite, whom he is about to meet. There is a preparatory chorus wherein sylphs and gnomes, with Mephistopheles, soothe Faust to sleep, and then the "dance of the sylphs," with this direction: "The spirits of the air hover awhile around the slumbering Faust, then gradually dis- appear."

The minuet in its first section is confined to the wind sections of the orchestra. The strings enter, and there is a long and free develop-

ment. In a trio-like middle section, a new melodious theme is sung by the strings, the D major changed to D minor. This portion ends with tremolo chords increasing from piano to fortissimo, a fragmentary da capo, and a closing episode, swift and light, the piccolo uppermost. This presto is a witty reminder of the serenade of Mephistopheles. Just before the end, brief phrases from the minuet itself are swept away by the rushing and brilliant close.

The "Ballet des Sylphes" is in an ethereal pianissimo throughout, with an elfin waltz melody sung by the violins over an unvarying pedal in the 'cellos and basses, and delicate accompaniment in the harps, wood winds and other strings. As the spirits of the air, having accomplished their purpose, gradually disappear, the already slight substance of the music evaporates into nothingness. Berlioz tells in his Memoirs how he wrote the "March" in Vienna, in one night, upon the Hungarian air "Rakoczy," which he had

recently heard: "The extraordinary effect it produced at Pesth made me resolve to introduce it into Faust, by taking the liberty of placing my hero in Hungary at the opening of the act, and making him present at the march of a Hungarian army across the plain. A German critic considered it most extraordinary in me to have made Faust travel in such a place. I do not see why, and I should not have

hesitated in the least to bring him in in any other direction if it would have benefited the piece. I had not bound myself to follow Goethe's plot, and the most eccentric travels may be attributed to such a per-

[10] sonage as Faust, without transgressing the bounds of possibility. Other German critics took up the same thesis, and attacked me with even greater violence about my modifications of Goethe's text and plot, just as though there were no other Faust but Goethe's, and as

if it were possible to set the whole of such a poem to music without

altering its arrangement. I was stupid enough to answer them in the

preface to the 'Damnation of Faust.' I have often wondered why I was never reproached about the book of 'Romeo and Juliet,' which

is not very like the immortal tragedy. No doubt because Shakespeare was not a German. Patriotism! Fetishism! Cretinism!" [copyrighted]

SYMPHONY IN C MAJOR, NO. 7

By Franz Schubert

Born at Lichtenthal, Vienna, January 31, 1797; died at Vienna, November 19, 1828

This posthumous symphony was composed in 1828. What was probably its first performance was given at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, March 21, 1839, Felix Men- delssohn conducting. The first performance in America was by the Philharmonic Society in New York, January 11, 1851. The first performance in Boston was on October 6, 1852, with a small orchestra led by Mr. Suck. The most recent perform ances at the Friday and Saturday concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra were

on January 27, 28, 1950.

The Symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.

It was 115 years ago that this symphony was resurrected and per- formed in Leipzig, at which time eleven years had passed since

the composition of the symphony and the death of its composer.

The very fact that Schubert wrote this masterwork in his last year, an eloquent sign, and not the only one, of a new subtilization and un-

folding of the still youthful composer, has been the subject of much conjecture, wise, futile, or foolish, on the part of his biographers. Some have foretold in the C major the heralding of what might have be- come a mighty symphonist, another Beethoven (which composer Schu- bert held in the deepest veneration). This despite the fact that the mild and unassuming little Viennese music-maker showed no inclina- tion, then or at any time, to become a philosopher and spiritual titan, an insurrectionary artist who might face the world at large with a [Presented for LJour [Pleasure by

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C4/^\NE of Mozart's most valuable associates ^^ was a New York grocer," Delver Forfax asseverated. "Fantastic? Yes, but absolutely true. It would be hard to find a real life char- acter with a more fantastic history. Listen. "Besides selling such items as tea and 'pigtail' tobacco, this person also became known as keeper of a bookshop. His knowledge of contemporary and classical literature won him the influential REFUGEE friendship of the distinguished New York author of A Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language. We all know this scholar in another connection. He was Clement J Moore, who also wrote Twas the Night Before Christmas. "The Italian Literature collection of the New York Public Library was started with books from Mozart's colleague. Wallack's Theatre, which once stood at Church and Lombard Streets, was originally built with funds raised by him. Prominent Knickerbocker families, such as the Onderdoncks, were tutored by him in Italian language and literature. "He was a transient resident of Philadelphia, and spent some years in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. There he was by turn a merchant, bookseller and tutor — and a constant victim of unlucky circumstances. He bitterly gave the town the nickname of 'Where They Bury the Sun.' "To sum him up, Mozart's associate was a man of note. Or, rather, he was a man of notes — promissory notes. The number of pages of his memoirs is perhaps equalled by the number of such documents he signed with the best of motives (at least in his own view) and the worst of consequences. He was constantly trapped by sharpers and pursued by constables. In fact, he settled in America to escape constables in England. He had become embroiled in the financial affairs of the Italian Opera in London, to which he had fled from peccadillos with the Vienna Opera. "This was the poet who wrote the libretti that inspired Mozart to write three of his best operas — Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Cost Fan Tutte. He was Lorenzo da Ponte. "In his old age he promoted opera in New York (where he raised money for

the Italian Opera House that became Wallack's Theatre) ; and also presented his company in Philadelphia. "And, as befell Mozart, his grave has been lost. At the age of 86, in the year 1836, he died in New York, and was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery adjoining St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. This burying ground ceased to be used. All remains were transferred to Calvary Cemetery." [12] glance of arrogant independence. More than one writer has discerned premonitions of death in the final symphony, and Sir George Grove, disclaiming superstition, could not help remarking darkly that Schu- bert signed a friendly letter of that year: "Yours till death." Any words from Schubert about his music, written or spoken, are as always but scantily available. One remark Schubert is said to have made,* on handing the manuscript of this symphony to the Musikverein — "that he hoped now to hear nothing more about Lieder, and that hence- forth he should confine himself to Opera and Symphony." He did write more songs; in fact probably his last application of pen to paper was to correct the proofs of his "Winterreise" series, wherein a new current of melancholy, almost Tchaikovskian, is discernible. It is none the less reasonable to assume that the symphony — that resplend- ent sample of a newly widened instinct of orchestral beauty — would have had its successors. After the broad and serene introduction, the theme of which is first \ntoned by the horns in unison, there comes the allegro, the main body of the movement, in which the corrections first appear. "It is an im- pressive (though not yet the most impressive) sign," writes Professor

Tovey, "of the white heat at which this huge work is written that the whole first movement (if not more) was fully scored before Schu- bert noticed that he really must put more meaning into the all-per- vading figure that constitutes the first two bars of his main theme. . . .

The alteration is neatly made with a pen-knife literally hundreds of times."

The theme in its original shape is an insipid reiteration of tonic and dominant — as characterless as some of Beethoven's early sketches for his finally pregnant themes. Schubert, apparently, was achieving a new power of discrimination, was outgrowing certain facile habits of spinning a good idea too thin, habits no doubt engendered in the uncritical glow of endless Biedermeierisch evenings and Schubertiaden

* Kreissle repeats this as a "well-authenticated confession."

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Complete information upon request ROBERT A. CHOATE, DEAN 25 BLAGDEN STREET, BOSTON 16 CO 6-6230

[13] in and about Vienna. But here there is a new mettle; one shoot of lyric florescence begets another; instead of the spectre of redundancy, which would be fatal in so long a work, there is the profuse fertility, the unexpected twist to lift the discourse again and again to a new and rarefied plane. "The second subject, reached, as usual in Schubert by a very simple coup de theatre, starts in a minor key in which it is not going to settle. This glorious theme veers round towards the normal key of the dominant G major; whence, however, it wanders away into the most wonderful of all Schubert's unorthodox digres- sions; a locus classicus for the imaginative use of trombones in a pianissimo. This passage, which derives from the introduction, and leads to a triumphant climax in G major, is so masterly in design as well as in poetic power that it is incomparably more like a new art- form than a failure to execute an old one. Many of Schubert's out- wardly similar digressions are weaknesses, but every case must be taken on its individual merits; and nothing will induce me to believe that Beethoven would have tolerated a word against this passage in its present position if he had lived to see it.

"The Coda is in quicker tempo, and has the energy to make a splendid climax; a marked contrast to most of Schubert's codas, which are apt to collapse with a frank gesture of exhaustion. Here the move- ment ends with an apotheosis of the Introduction. "The slow movement, in A minor, after establishing its indomitable march-rhythm in a few wintry bars of introduction, sets out bravely with a heart-breaking show of spirit in adversity. The burden of the song goes, with Schubert's characteristic half-Italian pathos, into the major mode. There is an energetic sequel, marching along in the same rhythm and with the same brave figures.

"The Second Subject is a broad working out of a serene melody of consolation, in F major. The return from this to A minor is famous as one of the simplest and most romantic passages ever written for horns. They toll like a bell haunted by a human soul; and when the

First Subject returns there is a new trumpet-part that enlivens and deepens the pathos. The energetic continuation is worked up to a great climax from which the reaction, after a dramatic pause, is in- tensely tragic: and then the Second Subject enters in A major, with radiant new colours and a flowing accompaniment which continues even through the returning passage (where clarinets now replace the horns) . Then fragments of the First Subject are built up into a mourn- ful Coda; even the burden of the song being now in the minor mode. "The Scherzo yields to nothing in music as regards the perfection and freedom of the treatment. Like the Scherzo of Beethoven's Ninth

Symphony, the main body of the movement is in miniature but highly organised sonata-form. The variety of rhythm throughout is inex- LIST OF WORKS Performed in the Cambridge Series DURING THE SEASON 1953-1954

Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, in G major, for Strings IV February 16 Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, "Eroica," Op. 55 I November 10

Symphony No. 5, in C minor, Op. 67 III January 26 Berlioz Excerpts from "The Damnation of Faust" VI April 20

Bloch Concerto Grosso No. 2, for String Orchestra I November 10 Brahms Symphony No. 2, in D major, Op. 73 II December 8 Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 V March 16

Cowell Hymn and Fuguing Tune, No. 3 III January 26

Debussy "Iberia" ("Images" for Orchestra, No. 2) I November 10 Franck Suite from "Psyche," Symphonic Poem III January 26 Haydn Symphony in G-major, No. 88 V March 16 Ibert Concerto for Flute and Orchestra Soloist: Doriot Anthony V March 16 Kabalevsky Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 49 Soloist: Samuel Mayes II December 8 Mahler Adagio from the Tenth Symphony IV February 16 Mozart Divertimento in D major, for Strings, K. 136 II December 8 "Paris" Symphony, K. 297 VI April 20 Piston Fantasy for English Horn and Harp, with Strings Soloists: Louis Speyer; Bernard Zighera VI April 20 Ravei "Le Tombeau de Couperin," Suite II December 8 Schubert Symphony No. 7 in C major VI April 20 Sibelius Symphony No. 2, in D major, Op. 43 IV February 16 Strauss "Tod und Verklarung," Tone Poem, Op. 24 III January 26 Pierre Monteux conducted on January 26 Richard Burgin conducted on February 16 and March 16

[15] haustible. As tor the Trio, it is a huge single melody (in 'binary" form with repeats, as usual) — one of the greatest and most exhila- rating melodies in the world. "The truest lover of Schubert confesses that he would not wish the Unfinished Symphony to have a typical Schubert finale. But Schubert wrote two finales which are typical Schubert without being his typical finales. These two are the finale of the string quintet and the finale of this Symphony. Possibly we might add a third, also in C major: the finale of the Grand Duo that ought to have been a symphony. And, of course, there are other finales that have magnificent themes and passages, notably in the three great string quartets. But these two finales are such as nobody can accuse of being weaker than the rest of the works. The finale of the C major Symphony is in fact an example of grotesque power fully as sublime as the griffin which Ruskin described so splendidly in the chapter on the Grotesque Ideal in Volume III of 'Modern Painters.'

"The two themes of its First Subject set up a very energetic spin which, like all Schubert's openings, promises well, but which does not, to people who know their Schubert, offer any security that it will maintain its energy in the tropical ease of its composer's mood after he has got through the three other movements so triumphantly. And indeed Schubert had a narrow escape herel If ever a powerful piece of music had a backbone to it, that backbone is the sublimely gro- tesque main theme of the Second Subject, arising so inevitably and so astonishingly out of the four premonitory repeated notes of the horn, and stretching itself ad infinitum while the violins madly turn somersaults with a persistent figure. This was the passage which, when

Mendelssohn rehearsed it with the London Philharmonic, caused the players to giggle and behave so badly that he had to withdraw the work; and even within living memory it roused the pedagogue and blinded the humorist in that great musician, Hans von Btilow. Well, it is to be hoped that we know better now. But here is what happened in Schubert's autograph — he had got as far as the four premonitory notes of the horns; and then he dashed off into a schoolmasterly little fugue from which the only possible reaction would have been a schoolboy's practical jokes. By good luck almost unique in Schubert's short career, he lost interest in this project before he had written nine bars of it — or perhaps the real gigantic inspiration came before he developed interest in the frivolity which he had started. Whatever the mental process was, it cannot have taken three-quarters of a minute: the dingy little fugue-subject was struck out before the answer had well begun; the danger was past, and instead of a weak facility, we have the momentum of a planet in its orbit."

[16] BOSTON MWSITYrr.,.***' Announcement 1954^55

Symphony Hall * Jordan Hall Boston Opera House Managing^AAROIUKHMOm Director A VARIED SEASON OF DISTINCTION The enormous increase in the number of Celebrity Series Subscriptions is due to THE PRE-EMINENCE OF THE ATTRACTIONS and the ADVANTAGES TO SERIES SUBSCRIBERS who: Select Their Own Series — Secure Choicest Locations Save up to 50% over box-office prices Receive privileges for important events not on the series. SELECT 7 — $18.50, $15.25, $11.75, $8.50 Only one starred event may be included in the series. Mail order renewals and new applications now being received at subscription office, 143 Newbury St. QUARTETTO ITALIANO Sun. Aft., Oct. 17 Hundreds were unable to buy even stage seats at their performance this year. 'PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA, Eugene Ormandy, Conductor ... Mon. Eve., Oct. 25 An audience demonstration rarely equalled in Symphony Hall followed this season's

concert. Prog : Tchaikovsky 5th : Stravinsky "Firebird" Suite : Prokofieff Classical Symphony CASADESUS Sun. Aft., Nov. 14 In the top rank of present-day keyboard masters. 'AMSTERDAM CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA. Eduard van Beinum, Cond. Sun. Aft., Nov. 28 Often called the greatest orchestra on the continent. Van Beinum "one of the most skillful and polished conductors we have heard." — Olin Downes. IRMGARD SEEFRIED Thur. Eve., Dec. 9 Leading singer of 'the Vienna State Opera and Metropolitan Opera, Seefried is now recognized also as one of the foremost concert singers in the world. ROBERTA PETERS Sun. Aft., Jan. 16 The first Symphony Hall concert by the prima donna coloratura of the Metropolitan

Opera ;; her vivacious personality, rare vocal attainments and showmanship promise an exciting afternoon. Her varied program will include several coloratura arias with flute. ZADEL SKOLOVSKY Sun. Aft., Jan. 23 His great success as soloist with the Boston Symphony this year augurs well for this brilliant pianist's first Boston concert. *HEIFETZ Sun. Aft., Feb. 13

I MUSICI Wed. Eve., Feb. 16 First American tour of twelve solo performers which many connoisseurs believe is the finest of Italian chamber orchestras. ROBERT SHAW CHORALE Sun. Aft., Mar. 6 Many subscribers have been anxiously waiting for the return to Boston of this superb group of 60 singers and instrumentalists. TRIO Dl TRIESTE Sat. Eve., Mar. 12 Three superlative instrumentalists, performing without scores, who have received extravagant praise wherever they have appeared. SOLOMON Sun. Aft., Mar. 27 Universally admired as one of the supreme interpretive pianists of the day. RUBINSTEIN Sun. Aft., Apr. 10 VIENNA CHOIR BOYS Sun. Eve., Apr. 17 Recent television and motion picture appearances have made them an even greater concert attraction. BALLET THEATRE Eve. in early May A magnificent American ballet company, fresh from European and South American successes, with acknowledged great dancers in a new repertory. EXTRA EVENT (Prices: $6, $5, $4, $3, $2.50) BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Thurs. Eve., Mar. 24 Under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwangler, one of the most distinguished of present- day virtuoso conductors, the Berlin Philharmonic has a position of pre-eminence among the world's symphony orchestras. Chosen exclusively by the lalfttoin Boston Symphony Orchestra

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